Skillshare Help Center

Skillshare Available in French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish (March 2022)

We are thrilled to announce that starting in April 2022, Skillshare will be available in four new languages: French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. That means students and teachers around the world will be able to navigate Skillshare (on the web and mobile) in one of these four languages, in addition to English. Students can already watch all of our classes with subtitles in these four languages, and we’ll be working throughout the rest of the year to grow our catalog of in-language classes to allow Spanish-, French-, Portuguese-, and German-speaking students and teachers to learn and teach more easily.

We’re also proud to share that the Teacher Help Center is already available in these additional languages. The coming changes also mean you will be able to receive teacher updates, including our new monthly teacher newsletter, in your preferred language (as selected within your Account Settings), as well as reach out to teach@skillshare.com in one of these languages and receive support back in that same language.

This has been a massive, company-wide undertaking and is a major piece of Skillshare’s ongoing commitment to fostering a global community of creatives.

What can you expect, and when?

Starting in April 2022, Skillshare users will be able to experience the site in four new languages, in addition to English. These additional languages are: French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. This will be a phased rollout, with an initial set of users having access to the translated Skillshare experience earlier in the month, with a gradual expansion to all users by the end of April.

Teachers and students alike may experience the Skillshare site in English or one of the four new languages on offer. Initially, the language you see will be determined in one of two ways:

  • For existing users the site will remain in English, but you'll have the option to try out a new language by changing your preferences in your Account Settings or via a language selector in the header and footer on any page of the site.
  • For new users, the site language will initially be determined by their location. For example, if a new user signs up for Skillshare and logs in from Mexico, the site will default to Spanish. However, if the user prefers to experience Skillshare in a different language, they may change it in their Account Settings at any time or via a language selector in the header and footer on any page of the site.

Most of the site will be available in these additional languages from the start — including the homepage, individual class pages, email notifications, the class creator, our Help Center, and the blog. However, we’re still working on translating some sections of the site beyond our launch (including user profiles and discussion posts). These will follow once the initial rollout is complete.

How will this impact teachers?

There are two main ways these changes will directly impact teachers:

  1. Starting March 19th, 2022, all classes will be required to have a Class Language selected in the Class Details section of the Class Creator tool, before the class may be submitted for review and published. Be sure to select the Class Language that the class is primarily taught in. No action is needed for existing classes, unless you wish to change the class language to something other than the default English. Visit How do I edit my class once it's published? if you wish to make that change.
  2. Currently, when you publish a new class, any student who follows you immediately receives an email notification (unless they have opted out of this notification type in their Account Settings). To allow for translation into the four new languages, this new class email notification will no longer be sent immediately to your followers. Instead, it will be sent once translation is complete. We anticipate this translation process taking anywhere from 24-72 hours after you publish a new class. Once the email notification has been translated and sent to your followers, you will also receive a copy so that you know when your students have been notified of your new class. As usual, you may begin promoting any new class as soon as it is launched, regardless of when this email notification is translated and sent.

As noted above, we’re also proud to share that the Teacher Help Center is already available in these additional languages. You may select your preferred language for the Help Center from the dropdown in the upper right corner of the site. The coming changes also mean you will be able to receive teacher updates, including our new monthly teacher newsletter, in your preferred language (as selected within your Account Settings), as well as reach out to teach@skillshare.com in one of these languages and receive support back in that same language.

These important changes will also greatly expand the Skillshare community, potentially increasing the number of students you’re able to reach with your classes. As usual, Skillshare will continue promoting your amazing classes (those taught in English and these four additional languages) so we can grow our global community of creatives.

How do I change the language I see on Skillshare?

To change the default language in which you experience the Skillshare site, visit How do I change the language I see on Skillshare?

Will you expand to more languages?

For this initial launch, we will start with the four languages that represent a vast majority of our current non-U.S. audience: French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. We look forward to offering the Skillshare experience in more languages in the future, especially after we learn from this initial launch. Our goal is to offer an accessible and inclusive experience for our global community of teachers and students, and this is an important step toward that goal.

Should I start teaching in one of these new languages?

As an existing teacher, you might be wondering if you should start teaching in one of these additional four languages, to better serve students from these new markets and potentially grow your audience on Skillshare. If you feel comfortable and confident teaching in one of these languages, please do!

Will students from around the world be able to watch my classes with subtitles?

As has been the case since the Summer of 2021, subtitles are also available in these four languages for all English classes. For more info, visit How do I enable subtitles?

We are also working hard to enable English subtitles on any classes taught in one of the four new languages, and expect this functionality to be available later this year, along with the ability for teachers to edit subtitles on their non-English classes. For more info on how to edit English subtitles, visit How can I edit my class subtitles and transcripts?

 

With these changes, we get to expand our creative community of students and teachers around the world, and better support them teaching and learning in the languages they prefer. If you have any questions or feedback about the above update, please get in touch with us at teach@skillshare.com.



Was this article helpful?